പ്രവാചകന്മാരുടെ രണ്ടാം പുസ്തകം

   

Dear Zach,      A great book for all Keralite Christians

You probably know of the great success Benyamin's book AADUJEEVITAM has had in Malayalam. It is seemingly running into its 75th edition in five years. Curiously,his great work of fiction is his earlier novel, THE SECOND BOOK OF PROPHETS/PRAVAACHAKANMAARUDE RANDAAM PUSTAKAM, which is a reinterpretation of the person and the life of Jesus, set in a language woven with Biblical idioms and imagery. It is as beautifully surprising and surprisingly beautiful as Kazantsakis' THE LAST TEMPTATION, CHRIST RECRUCIFIED, Samarago's GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS and Pasolini's GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATHEW. Zach will adore the way Benyamin tries to portray Jesus and his companions/fellow combatants and you will burst into tears by the song of love rendered by Mariyam  before Jesus leaves her to accomplish his mission. Benyamin's Jesus is entirely a product of his times and contexts, incredibly human and incredibly dreamer. One would say, like Martin Luther King, Jesus too must have intoned, "I have a dream". Yes, he dreamt of leading the Jewish tribes (all of them without any distinction) into freedom, freedom from the Roman domination, freedom from the tyranny of their

own community leaders, freedom from the dead log of doctrines and rituals, freedom from the shackles of man made discrimination. In other words, Jesus is portrayed as an enlightened freedom fighter wanting to liberate his people into the realm of free thought and action. This is entirely revolutionary in Malayalam.

By the way, Almayasabadam must from time to time talk about books, in Malayalam as well as in other languages (notably in English).

Inasu Talak, Paris